Japanese Pocket Pens

[chas]

Hello out there....I am wondering what is the interest level and value of a typical Japanese

Pocket Pen for instance Sailor's in SS or Pilot Elite's, 1970's typically....

 

Thank you for any information you may be able to offer...

 

Chas.

[Oranges and Apples]

Hello Chas,

 

It sounds like you are fishing for some information on what the general population of Fountain Pen Network likes about Japanese pocket pens and what we like about them.

 

First of all I love my Pilot M90. It is not the vintage type which you are describing but I love the stainless steel construction which makes it a sturdy work horse. If it was any other metal or plastic I would not value it as much because the properties of stainless steel appeals to me. It makes it a pen which I do not have to pamper but a pen which I am not afraid to carry and use.

 

I was also considering purchasing a Pilot Elite pen but was turned off due to its plastic construction. It seems flimsy when compared to the Pilot M90*. Even though it was offered at a price which was one-fifth of the Pilot M90 the Pilot Elite did not appeal to me. It was not one of those "must have pens."

 

The Pilot M90 was almost purchased on an impulse while the Pilot Elite I can't even justify the purchase. Perhaps the Pilot Elite could have been the gateway to the Pilot M90 if the Pilot Elite was readily available in brick and mortar stores.

 

Happy huntings.

 

*Perhaps I would feel differently if I would handle the pen before purchase.

[rdh]

You can get a NOS Pilot Elite with a gold-plated steel nib for approximately 20 dollars. Used ones with gold nibs are usually 2 to 3 times more expensive. I have one and I really like it. It is a very clever solution to making a fountain pen that can be carried in compact form and expanded to write like a normal-sized pen. By the way, another solution to this is the Stipula Passaporto.

 

Dave

[79spitfire]

I have 3, Pilot Elite, and 2 Platinums, one steel nibbed and one 14K. They are all great writers (well, until I dropped the Platinum with the steel nib ) The only downside with the Platinum is the lack of available converters.

 

Both pen types are well made and very sturdy.

 

The Pasporto is a great option as well, but doesn't have a clip!

 

Speerbob on ebay, has Platinums and Pilots. I think they are in the $20 range with steel nibs.

 

(no affil...)

[Tberry010]

I have several of these type pens and I like them all, but they are different depending on whether they are metal or plastic. I have an Elite in metal, a Volex in metal, and what I thought until recently was a Volex in plastic, and I have Sailors and Platinums a well. Some are a little to light for my taste but all are great writers, particularly if you like the finer nibs normally associated with pens from asia.

We have a resident guru on these pens and if you search the archives you will find a wealth of information about them.

"Pocket" in this context does not mean trouser pocket per se, but refers to the ability of the pen to sit in a shirt pocket I believe, and thus they may be longer than you expect capped.

For an entry level "test" pen I don't think you can beat Speerbob's offerings-either for price or service.

Hope this helps. Tom

[adallak]

I like my cute Pilot Elite pen. Despite the nib is EF it is not scratchy at all, but rather has "feedback". It comes with a converter installed. I particularly like the way the cap is secured. Despite I write very fast, there is no skipping at all. Great pen for $20. You cannot go wrong with a Pilot pen.

Edited April 27, 2012 by adallak

[AnnaZed]

That was then and this is now. I believe that they are much more popular. I even have one with a 21K nib (which I know has been debated as to the actual improvement that may be), I like it a lot I will say.

[awa54]

As the owner of several dozen short/long "pocket" pens from the late 1960s through the 1980s I can say that my experience with the general format is very positive, but I like small slim pens, so if you don't you may hate them.

 

Pilot has been the most consistently excellent, with Platinum just behind and Sailor bringing up the rear... that may just be the pens I have gotten, but I have had more Plats that dry out after a few weeks of disuse than Pilots and also a few that start hard due to very flat tipping where it meets the paper, the Sailors at the lower end, seem to be a bit flimsier than either Plat or Pilot, though they do write very well and the higher-end Sailors are as good as any offering from the "P" guys. I also own a Parley branded short/long that takes Plat cartridges (so *not* a Sailor Parley), it's an exceptional performer, though the nib is utterly rigid and the "design" on the clip looks like it was cut free-hand with a graver. All the Teikins I've seen on Ebay had rusty nibs so I've stayed away from them...

 

The NOS Pilot pocket pens that seller Speerbob *still* has for sale on Ebay are indistinguishable from their upscale gold nibbed brethren with the exception of being just a tad more rigid, I'd suggest getting one of those to try the type out before spending $60+ for a ready to write, used gold nibbed pen.

[Driften]

 

The NOS Pilot pocket pens that seller Speerbob *still* has for sale on Ebay are indistinguishable from their upscale gold nibbed brethren with the exception of being just a tad more rigid, I'd suggest getting one of those to try the type out before spending $60+ for a ready to write, used gold nibbed pen.

 

 

Those pens were made under license and not by Pilot in Japan. I think Figboot on Pens had a review a year or so ago that compared it to the gold nib ones made in Japan.

[awa54]

Those pens were made under license and not by Pilot in Japan. I think Figboot on Pens had a review a year or so ago that compared it to the gold nib ones made in Japan.

I own both; the cap, barrel, section and feed are literally identical and as far as reliable function there is no difference, both work perfectly with all but the most extreme pigment dense inks. Of all the slim pocket models I own, the only one that doesn't write at the first touch after weeks of sitting is a Japanese made 14k medium nibbed example... I'm at a loss to explain this one's issue, it has been apart with a full cleaning of the feed and the cap seals perfectly?!?

 

I own several Korean and Indian made Pilot pens, they are all just as good as the Japanese pens, the only knock against them is that they're steel nib "basic" models, no upscale trim levels or gold nibs and some of the older ones are ED or squeeze fillers instead of C/C.

 

**NOTE**

When I say I "own both", I *don't* own an E95, like the one Figboot reviewed, but the Japanese model that's essentially identical to the Korean Elite. If you use an ink with moderate flow (PR inks are all gushers IME) the Speerbob NOS Elites will write a thinner line, though their EF steel nib *is* essentially the same as a 1970s or 80s Japanese Pilot 14k F.

Edited January 27, 2020 by awa54

[langere]

Ah, pocket pens! There are a whole bunch, some of which have not been mentioned before.

 

I would include Kaweco Sport in that category. Also, Ohto makes some inexpensive pocket pens.

 

I have 3 Platinums and 3 Pilots. an M90 and two Elites - one modern, one vintage.

 

They're all great little pens and work flawlessly. Other than the steel M90, the Pilots have 14k gold nibs whereas the Platinums have 18k gold nibs.

 

Erick

[awa54]

Just as an aside, Pilot made Elite short/long pens with at least four nib shapes, using steel, 14k and 18k gold as well as white gold variants in the stainless/grid/line models, Platinum produced white and yellow gold in 18K, as well as yellow gold in 14k and 22k (maybe 21k as well, but I'm not certain of that), Sailor did steel and 14k, 18k, 21k, 22k and 23k, with at least 18k being offered in white gold as well, they also offered an inlay nib similar to the Pilot Custom type.

[GreenMountain]

There is a converter for the short Platinum pens that works fine - you just have to cut off the extra length of the twist end. Here it is:

Platinum Ink Converter Fountain Pen PLAT500 0.53cc

Here's how to make it fit:

Put the converter in the pen, then line part of the pen that screws into the body next to where it will eventually seat over the cartridge. Note how much you'll have to cut off the converter screw to allow the pen body screw on over the converter. (My guess is somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3 of the length of the black plastic screw.)

 

Screw out the plunger within the converter so that the converter is almost all the way empty (open to hold ink). Then cut off through the converter screw with a razor through both the outer plastic and the inner piston threads. Try fitting the converter into the pen, and try screwing the body over the converter. If the body doesn't seat all the way, cut more off the converter screw.

For fear of the converter falling apart, I usually leave the piston of the converter in the open position and fill the converter with a syringe. This precaution is probably unnecessary and you could probably just use the screw end to suck up the ink from the bottle.

[GreenMountain]

Image of converter conversion for Platinum Short.

[GreenMountain]

[DaveBj]

My first "real" fountain pen was a Sailor 21, purchased in Japan while we were living there in the '70s. It uses proprietary cartridges only (no converter), so it sat unused for a long time after we returned to the U.S. and I used up the cartridges that I had brought with me. Finally a few years ago I found an on-line vender and bought a couple boxes. I've used only a couple of the cartridges, but I do a lot of re-filling. The pen itself is a great little writer; it seems to have almost an ethnic memory when I go to write kanji with it

[awa54]

 

For fear of the converter falling apart, I usually leave the piston of the converter in the open position and fill the converter with a syringe. This precaution is probably unnecessary and you could probably just use the screw end to suck up the ink from the bottle.

 

 

 

At that point, why not just refill cartridges? they already have more ink capacity than an unmodified converter, let alone one with reduced piston throw... less potential for leaks or a poor fit too.

 

http://stutler.cc/pens/converters/index.html here are some other takes on converter modification, I haven't tried this yet (since I usually just refill carts), but I imagine that stuffing a cut-off cartridge mouth in the open end of a Pilot CON-20 or the even more compact (and currently available!) CON-B would work better than piston converter mods, though you wouldn't have any confirmation of ink level. Modding a CON-40 this way might also give a short enough overall length?

 

 

GreenMountain, are you originally a Vermonter? I know there are plenty of *green* mountains in the northeast, but it is VT's original name.

Edited February 8, 2020 by awa54

[GreenMountain]

Yes to Vermont. Well, I just like converters better than cartridges. No good reason!

[awa54]

Just as an aside, Pilot made Elite short/long pens with at least four nib shapes, using steel, 14k and 18k gold as well as white gold variants in the stainless/grid/line models, Platinum produced white and yellow gold in 18K, as well as yellow gold in 14k and 22k (maybe 21k as well, but I'm not certain of that), Sailor did steel and 14k, 18k, 21k, 22k and 23k, with at least 18k being offered in white gold as well, they also offered an inlay nib similar to the Pilot Custom type.

 

 

Edit-ish... Maybe the Japanese market versions of the slimmest black and gold finish pocket pens were strictly "Pilot" branded. The trim level and in some cases clips are identical to other Pilots from that period that got the Elite name, but all of mine are just plain Pilot, except for the Speerbob sourced steel nib variant.

[KingsCountyWriter]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong here. I want to love the Japanese pocket pens, due to their sleek designs and obviously pocketable size, but they all write stiff and scratchy (to me) and need an insane amount of pressure to be able to get ink to flow!!!

I just bought a Platinum PK-2000 on eBay recently. 18k fine nib. I flushed it with a syringe until it ran clear. Installed a Carbon cartridge but I cant write anything without heavy-handed pressure. After one night, it stopped writing entirely.

Two inexpensive Elite steel tips, NOS, filled with Shikiori Yonaga. Theyre both sitting because I cannot get any ink to flow.

One Elite with an 18k nib: same results. TBH, that one wrote the most. I flushed it and it sits clean and empty at the moment.

I feel as if I have read so much about these pens, but after 4 different models, I guess my touch isn't made for these models and I should quit trying.

They've all been flushed, and I have experimented with different inks, except for the Platinum. From what I've read about the Carbon ink, maybe that was a poor choice to begin with.

Edited March 3, 2020 by KingsCountyWriter